Bowen Public School will be closed on Monday, principal Marianne Pankhurst thanking the school community for its patience after it was the latest site tangled in the region's evolving COVID-19 web over the weekend.
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The east Orange-based school was on Saturday informed a member of the school community has returned a positive COVID-19 test.
Mrs Pankhurst and staff moved quickly to inform the community of the result, and closed the school grounds to ensure best practice as NSW Health looked into the case and began contact tracing.
That process will continue into Monday, when the school will also undergo a deep clean, too, meaning the school will be closed to start the week.
Mrs Pankhurst expects the school to reopen on Tuesday.
"NSW Health continue to work hard to complete contact tracing for us. We will be notified when that process is complete. Then you will receive a letter, to inform you of any steps required to ensure your child's and family's health," she said in a statement on Sunday evening.
In the meantime, the community is being urged to continue to follow the initial notice for all staff and students to self-isolate until further advice is received.
The Assumption School in Bathurst was forced to close last week for similar reasons, and on Sunday it was revealed the Eglinton Public School is also closed on Monday after a member of its school community contracted the virus.
It comes as Orange recorded one new case of COVID-19 in Sunday's figures, which were gathered to 8pm on Saturday night.
There are no new areas of concern identified for Orange.
Across the whole of the Western NSW Local Health District there were 10 new cases. Five of those were recorded in Bathurst, three in Walget and one each in Dubbo and Orange.
It's the first time in eight days the region's total number of new cases has hit double-digits.
"The safety and wellbeing of our staff and students is of paramount importance to us at all times," Mrs Pankhurst said.
"As such we will continue to work closely with NSW Health to ensure that all necessary health advice is adhered to.
"While we recognise this will be disruptive and inconvenient for families, it is important that we follow NSW Health advice and take all necessary precautions to minimise the risk of further transmission to support our community."
New reporting protocols as a result of easing COVID restrictions across the state and high vaccination rates mean health authorities will no longer reveal how many of the new daily cases were known to be active in the community while infectious with residents instead advised to "continue to act as if active COVID-19 cases may be present in your community by following safety measures and responding to alerts".
Across NSW there were 296 new infections in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday and four deaths.
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